The Upper Hand
by TracyJean
Summary: Emma thinks she has the upper hand on Rumplestiltskin when she discovers he is the Dark One again, but she has forgotten a fundamental rule in dealing with him – he is almost always thinking many moves ahead of his opponent and is not about to lose just when everything he wants is finally within reach again. He has two secret weapons which Emma does not expect. Post-ep 5x11.


**Author's notes** : Okay, "Swan Song" really, really pissed me off – aside from apparently ripping the heart out of all Rumbellers in less than five minutes at the end of the episode for no discernible reason than it is episode 11 of the season, which has been a traditional Rumbelle angst episode since season two - and before I went to bed that night after watching the episode, I had the genesis for this fic. It was originally going to be a bit of sarcasm about the stupidity of everything that happened in that episode (delivered mostly by Belle with assists from Henry and Rumple), but damn it if the characters didn't start speaking rationally about everything that went on and Emma's half-baked plan to save Hook. Then I had to put it aside to deal with a bout of the flu (the hazards of a weekend spent with my niece just as she was apparently getting sick) and am just now getting back to it.

* * *

"Let's do this," Emma says as they stand at the lake shore, prepared for the second time in as many days to journey into the Underworld, this time of their own volition. At least, that is what they are telling themselves. Emma has told them that she has a way to save Hook and that they will use Gold's blood to open the portal to the Underworld, the same plan Hook had to send them there originally. More than that, they do not know, nor have they asked, at least not yet, for such is the trust that they have in the woman who was born the Savior, was more recently the second person ever to survive being the Dark One, and is now the Savior again.

She looks to Gold expectantly, but he merely returns her gaze with a slight, secretive smile, making no move to open the portal as she desires. Her expression hardens, but before she can open her mouth to remind him just what is at stake for him, another voice pipes in. "Why?"

Emma whirls around at the new arrival, unable to keep her eyes from widening in complete and utter shock. Her head whips back towards the group gathered behind her, her eyes zeroing in on Gold, his expression as placid as it was just seconds ago. Her eyes narrow at him in silent question, but he says nothing, betrays nothing in his entire being. If he is surprised either by the question or the presence of the one asking it, he does not show it. Expecting no answers from that quarter, at least at the moment, she decides to focus on the newcomer. "Why what?" she asks in reply, not quite able to keep the surprise out of her tone.

Belle walks forward calmly, taking her place at her husband's left, linking her arm with his, greeting him silently with a soft smile that he returns. Those perceptive enough to notice might take note of an entire conversation held just in the gazes exchanged between the two, or the wedding ring sparkling once again on Belle's left hand, but only the one responsible for bringing them back together notices either the ring or the silent dialogue, the others' thoughts still focused on the upcoming trip to the Underworld and the broader meaning of Belle's sudden appearance at the lake shore.

As one, the Golds turn towards their grandson and nod, smiling their thanks. The Truest Believer returns the smile, happy once again to have his belief reinforced, especially for these two, who have suffered through so much since their first meeting so many years ago. He knows that they have fought more than most for their love and deserve to finally have that fight rewarded.

Finally, once again in unison, they turn their attention back to Emma. "Why this trip to the Underworld?" Belle asks in a composed tone which sounds out of place to nearly everyone present, given the circumstances and their intended destination. If she is afraid for her husband, her grandson or the others who like to call them _family_ when it is useful, she gives no indication. She might have well have asked why they were having Granny's for lunch for all the apparent emotion in her tone.

"To save Killian," Emma says, as if it should be obvious, emphasizing the point with an impatient wave of her hand. "Certainly your husband _told_ you that."

Belle gives no hint that she notices the special emphasis the other woman had placed on the word 'told' other than a slight narrowing of her eyes which escapes the notice of most. "Of course," she continues in the same level tone, "but that is not what I mean. I mean why are you _forcing_ my husband to open you a portal to save this particular man, the same man who hunted him for over three centuries? Did it never occur to you to think of a way to do it for his son? You do remember _him_ , don't you? The father of your son?"

There are several gasps from the assembled group, but neither Belle nor Gold pays any attention to them other than to note that none of the expressions of shock come from Henry. Emma, however, takes an angry step forward. "How _dare_ you!?"

Belle merely lifts an eyebrow while Gold snickers softly at her side before she continues, "How dare I ask why you _tried_ to blackmail my husband into saving the life of the pirate who tried to murder me on multiple occasions, who turned his son over to Pan to live a hellish existence on Neverland for over two centuries, who worked with Greg and Tamara to try to kidnap his grandson for Pan, who abandoned all of us – stealing the magic bean that would have saved us - when the same Greg and Tamara activated Regina's fail safe to destroy Storybrooke, and who just yesterday – according to what Henry told me - was going to send _your entire family, including your son,_ to the Underworld just so he could bring the darkness to Storybrooke permanently? What makes you _think_ that he would even _contemplate_ doing what you did not ask him to do for his own son, let alone that he would do it for someone like Killian Jones?"

Emma realizes two things in listening to Belle's maddeningly calm rant. First, the words may be coming from her mouth, but the tone is all wrong. It almost sounds as if they are coming from Gold's mouth. It is as if he is putting words into his wife's mouth. She might almost think he is controlling her somehow, but Emma knows that is not possible. That is one line she is sure that he would not cross. Lie to her, yes. Control her actions, not in a million years. Second, Belle obviously knows _how_ Emma has secured his cooperation, thereby negating her trump card.

For a moment, Emma is flustered, not sure how to respond. She glances at the others, as if to seek support, but no one jumps in to offer any suggestions of their own. Instead, from the wary glances returned, it is apparent that no one is really on board with this trip to the Underworld, but are merely trusting Emma when she says they have to do this. In fact, she is pretty sure that several of them are relieved to have the brakes tapped on, at least for now.

Her gaze falls on her son last for reasons that she does not want to admit either to him or to herself. When she finally turns to him, he shrugs and says quietly, a bit apologetically, "I had pretty much the same questions, Mom. If this is apparently so easy, then why not do the same for Dad?"

Emma is taken aback, expecting her son of all people to back her up, or at least to be angry at having his father's death brought up in this way. "It's not that simple, Henry," she says in a soothing voice, trying to draw him back to her.

"Why isn't it?" Belle cuts in. "Why is Hook's life worth more than Baelfire's was?"

Emma takes a step forward, her eyes flashing in anger. Belle takes a step forward as well, Gold and Henry moving to flank her on either side. Emma is visibly shaken to see her son standing apparently so firmly in opposition to her, but she shakes it off. She will make him see. She will make them all see. "I grieved for Neal," she says insistently, "but he's gone now and I cannot do anything about that, but I will not let Killian go, too."

"Bae hasn't even been gone for five months," Belle says a bit more insistently, her calm façade starting to show the slightest of cracks. "Some of us are _still_ grieving him." She glances at her husband, squeezing his arm apologetically before turning back to Emma. "Even I didn't realize how much until it was almost too late. But you – you've already moved on to the next guy that you just can't live without, that you want to force _all of us to risk our lives_ to rescue from his bad choices and yours. _Oh, wait, I forgot._ Those were the Dark One's choices according to everyone else – _except_ when it is Rumple and what he has done, then his choices are all his."

Emma cannot take anymore, steps forward without thinking, her hand raised to strike. Belle doesn't even flinch, just grabs Emma's wrist and yanks it away. Emma may be the sheriff and may physically be the stronger woman, but Belle has the element of surprise on her side – and the tendency to be underestimated by nearly everyone.

"I wouldn't even _think_ of doing that again, Miss Swan," Gold says, his tone low in warning. He doesn't move a muscle, but all present can feel the magic gathering about him. Nearly everyone turns to him in shock while Belle releases Emma's wrist and steps back to his side, taking his arm again. At her light, soothing touch, his magic settles and it seems as if the world itself audibly exhales from the disaster averted as a light breeze disturbs the sudden stillness, the leaves on the trees rustling in the cool night air.

"You've…got magic," Regina whispers, her gaze darting from Emma to Gold. She is unable to keep her mouth from falling open in astonishment as she grasps _how_ he has magic again, even if she can't quite work out the particulars in her mind yet, and what Belle meant about Emma's obviously failed attempted at blackmail. She glances at her son, but he doesn't seem surprised, so she dares give voice to the realization that the others are slowly coming to. " _You're_ the Dark One again."

"By the way, Emma," Belle says, returning to the even-tempered tone she began the conversation with, "what Rumple told you at the shop this morning? Not the story at all – not even close – but that's for later, and believe me, everyone is better off with things the way they are considering how you and Hook managed to nearly destroy the all the Light in just seven weeks – something Rumple didn't even _contemplate_ doing in over three hundred years. Let's just say that his motives for taking on the Darkness again are much the same as before, when he took it on to save Bae, and that there are only _two_ people alive whom he would consider worth making _that_ sacrifice for again.

"Considering who one of those people is, maybe you should try showing a little gratitude for once, but considering how much all of you showed him when he sacrificed himself to save everyone when Pan was going to turn Storybrooke into his own nightmare version of Neverland, I'm not holding my breath."

She briefly glances around at the others, only the ice in her steely gaze betraying the hostility behind her words. "It's not like any of you were ready to volunteer to help Bae and I figure out a way to bring back the man who had truly sacrificed himself to save us all, not like Emma here is expecting us all to do for a man who was too cowardly to do even that much. He had to ask you to do the deed for him, yet he's the hero and what Rumple did to save us all from Pan was nothing, I suppose.

"Oh, and the dagger?" she continues with a slight smile. "Don't even think about it? Doesn't control him anymore, so we won't have any more instances where Zelena or some other wannabe über-villain tries to control him and locks him in a cage while you so-called heroes do _absolutely nothing_ to try to rescue him. If you had thought about it, Emma, you would have realized something was off when he just pulled the dagger out of the display case in the front of the shop this morning."

"Grandpa wouldn't just leave the dagger out for anyone to find if it could be used to control him," Henry reminds her as Emma glares at Belle in shock. Gold really had told her _everything_. "Not after what the Wicked Witch did."

"What a minute," Mary Margaret interjects, shaking her head, "let's back up a minute here. Hook's death didn't destroy the Darkness, but it went back into Gold and he's the Dark One again? And Belle says this is supposed to be a _good_ thing?" She cannot quite suppress the shudder that goes through her as she grabs for David's hand. His fingers curl around hers, squeezing comfortingly, but she feels as cold as her Enchanted Forest name.

Belle turns to the other woman, bristling. "Yes, because your daughter the Savior did oh so well at being able to control the Darkness and Hook…" She barks out a bitter laugh, shaking her head. "Well, he quickly – and I mean _quickly_ – gave in to the same Darkness that my so-called _coward_ of a husband spent three hundred years fighting. In his first days as the Dark One, Rumple managed to end the First Ogre War and bring home all the children being conscripted into the Frontlands' army.

"He only lost control of the darkness after he was captured and controlled by Zelena using his dagger, which I have already said **_cannot happen again with the way the Darkness was transferred to him this time. That theory has already been tested._** And I think we have already established that he was only captured and controlled for so long because none of you gave a damn what happened to him and didn't care to help free him. Oh, and all that occurred only after she murdered his son, whom none of you cared that he was grieving, but since everyone apparently cares more about resurrecting Hook than Bae, who cares what effect the murder of his son has on him?"

"Can there be Light without Dark?" Henry muses. "Can one really exist without the other?"

"Good lad, Henry," Gold says, a hint of pride in his tone and in the slight smile he bestows on his grandson. He turned to Emma, a hint of derision creeping into his tone. "I tried to warn you, Miss Swan, that there were flaws in your plan destroy the Darkness by channeling it into a single person and then killing that person, just as there were flaws in the Dark One's plan in snuffing out the Light. The Darkness would not let itself be destroyed, any more than the Light would. Henry is right when he says one cannot exist without the other. If Hook's plan had succeeded – or appeared to – the Light still would have found a conduit in which to hide itself, if you will, and the reverse is also true. The Darkness would have sought out a vessel, any vessel."

"And it would have gone for the first available one it could find," Belle continues. "The night the Apprentice extracted the Darkness from Rumple and tried to contain it in the Sorcerer's Hat? When it escaped, it tried attaching itself to the first available vessel, which was the Apprentice, but his body was too weak to contain it. That weakened the Darkness slightly, which is why it fled the shop, regrouped. When it returned, it went again for the first available vessel, which was Regina. Then Emma interfered and here we are."

"So destroying Hook," Regina carries on the line of reasoning to the only logical conclusion, "or if Hook had destroyed himself, it would probably never have destroyed the Darkness, not completely, even with Excalibur. The Darkness that remained would have gone looking for a new home – a new home that _could have_ been Henry just as likely as it could have been any of us, especially if it wanted to seek out someone with magic – or with a great potential for magic - to augment its own power, additional power it could twist to its own end."

"So Rumple stacked the deck, you could say," Belle finishes. "He made sure that the Darkness would not seek out just any vessel, but a specific one, the one _most capable_ of containing and controlling the Darkness – the one that had already done so for over three hundred years, many times longer than any Dark One before him, and the first one to live to tell the tale."

Henry's eyes meet his grandfather's, his gaze bright with admiration. "Thank you, Grandpa," he says softly.

"I could do no less for Bae's boy," he says softly with a touch of sentimentality. Most of the others nod slowly. Even if they are not quite sure that this is the entire truth – this is Gold, after all, even if it is his sweet wife delivering the news which he may or may not have twisted to put in the best light for her and for Henry in the original telling of it to her – none of them are quite sure where the holes are in the story that is being told or if they should even try to poke holes in it.

Maybe Belle is correct and they have been a bit unfair to Gold in diminishing the sacrifices that he has made for them, loathe as they are to admit to them. Perhaps she is correct that he is the best one to contain the Darkness – after all, none of them are ready to live through another period like the seven weeks they have just lived through.

Regina watches her son look at his grandfather, and she clamps her lips shut before a gasp can escape. Another realization hits her as she listens to their brief conversation and the tone of Gold's voice. Hook wasn't the one who was originally supposed to be sacrificed to banish the Darkness – _Emma_ was – and Gold knew that when he'd handed Excalibur over to them. Hook wasn't the one who was supposed to have died – if all had gone according to plan, Emma would have been the one to pay the price, a price that would have been paid at her hand. How had she and Emma never considered that in their plan, how losing one mother at the hands of the other might have affected Henry, who had already lost so much in so short a time?

She finds some of her old fondness for her mentor returning as she ponders this new insight. Neither she nor Emma had stopped to think of Henry in their quick planning, but his grandfather apparently had and had maneuvered things so that Henry would not have to suffer for their lack of consideration. If all had gone according to the original plan, knowing Rumple, the Darkness would have been extracted from Emma and been drawn into him before she could have completed her part in killing Emma, but Hook's last-second change of heart had disrupted even Rumple's careful planning. His long experience with the pirate likely would have told him that the chances of Hook changing course were virtually nil.

"But what about Hook?" Emma asks stridently, trying to bring them all back to the original reason why they are all standing on the lake shore. She is ready to forget all about the Dark One and the horror of the past seven weeks to focus on her new goal.

The rest of the group, save Belle and Gold, whom it is obvious could not care less about Hook's ultimate fate at this point, share uncomfortable glances with each other. None of them are quite sure what to say. How do they explain why they cannot do for Hook would they would not do for countless other loved ones they have lost throughout life's journey?

"When I became the Author and brought us back from Isaac's alternate world," Henry finally says, staring at the grass as he gathers his thoughts, "the first thing I asked the Apprentice was about rewriting the story to bring Dad back." He looks up at all of them, tears shining in his eyes. Belle reaches out and takes his hand, squeezing it comfortingly. Regina steps to him and wraps an arm around his shoulder. He draws in a deep breath and continues, drawing strength from these two women to whom he may not be related biologically, but whom he still loves and takes solace from as mother and grandmother.

"He said that it didn't work that way," he says with an inner strength that the others still sometimes marvel at in one still so young in years yet not in experiences. "As I thought about it, I remembered what Grandpa always says about 'all magic comes with a price'. So where does it stop? If we bring Hook back, why not Dad? If not Dad, then why not Graham? Why not Grandpa Henry or Mom's first love Daniel? Or Gramps' mother Ruth? Or Grandma Snow's parents? Or Grandma Belle's mother? Or the real Marian?"

They are all silent for a long moment, Henry's words sinking in. There is not a person on that lake shore who has not lost someone dear to them, who would not give nearly anything to have them back. They then cannot help but remember Belle and Baelfire and their quest to bring back Gold and the cost that family is obviously still paying for his resurrection, the price they all nearly paid for Zelena's hijacking of their plan.

Mary Margaret nods slowly as David continues the train of thought, "Or any of the others we have loved and lost along the way? Or the countless people who died as the result of our various wars and vendettas in the Enchanted Forest? Who are we to decide who is worthy and who isn't of being granted such a gift? And what would be the price? When would it stop? And when do others start coming to us, demanding their loved ones back? Eventually, I think that would somehow cheapen the meaning of their deaths and our grieving for them."

"Losing my mother was one of the hardest things I ever had to go through," Belle adds haltingly, looking down at her hand wrapped around Gold's arm. "In fact, despite the ogres threatening us for several years, it was my first true experience with the loss of someone close to me, but it also was like closing a door on one chapter of my life and opening the door on another."

She looks up at her husband as he covers her hand with his, tightening his fingers around hers. "I was no longer a pampered, cossetted princess when Rumple came into my life a short time later and I don't know if the girl I had been then would have been prepared for life in the Dark Castle or with him. I was able to learn something from losing my mother which helped me to open myself to True Love with a man most still see as just a monster, with or without the Darkness."

"Miss Swan," Gold finally says, his voice perhaps both the most and least likely that she will listen to, "when I killed myself to stop Pan, as I said to him that day out on the street, I knew full well the price that I would have to pay to stop him and I fully expected to pay it. I knew I was going to the Vault, would be spending an eternity in the Underworld, centuries worth of unfinished business to hold me there. I never…perhaps I underestimated the love of my wife and son, just how far they would be willing to go or that there would be someone depraved enough to trick them into something which they didn't fully understand the cost of. I had expected to spend eternity in the Underworld and to eventually come back, to find the cost paid for my renewed life, I was…angry is not the word for it. My life could never be worth that of either Bae's or Belle's alone or theirs together." He pauses, squeezing Belle's hand again to reassure her that he has gotten past that anger, has finally accepted what is and cannot be changed.

"Emma," Belle adds her voice to her husband's, hoping to make her understand, "when Bae and I arrived in the Enchanted Forest after Rumple died, we were both grieving. No one else seemed to understand or care just how much. Neither of us was thinking clearly. We both made mistakes because of it. By the time we realized that we were being misled, that we were playing into Zelena's hands, it was too late. If we had taken more time…Rumple wasn't going anywhere and maybe, we could have found a way which would not have cost all of us so much."

Emma turns to her parents, a pleading look in her eyes. "Mom, Dad…" she begins, sounding like the lost little girl she has for so long tried to put behind her. They go to her and open their arms. With a soft sound that might be a sob, she lets herself fall into their embrace. Mary Margaret and David close their arms around her, holding her close as she struggles against the threatening tears. "What do we do?"

It is Regina who answers after exchanging long looks with her son and his paternal grandparents which seem to indicate mutual agreement. "We take a step back," she says with all the authority of Queen Regina of the Enchanted Forest or Mayor Mills of Storybrooke. "We take more time. Just because this is the obvious way doesn't mean it is the only way or the best way."

"Mom, please," Henry says, moving to Emma and putting a hand on her back. "Grandpa didn't spend three centuries working on a way to find Dad nor did Grandma and Gramps win _two_ kingdoms in the Enchanted Forest by just throwing things together and hoping they worked. Yesterday, you accused Grandpa of scaring me when he was talking about the Underworld. Today, you want all of us to just go there without a second thought. If it is as bad as he says it is, can we afford to do that?"

He glances around at the rest of the group, most of them nodding. "You want to save Hook's life," he continues, trying to keep the reluctance out of his voice. His feelings for the former pirate have always been conflicted, even more so after the events of the previous day, but that is not what Emma needs to hear now. Later, when she is not quite so raw, maybe he can talk to her about it then. "So don't you want to go in with the best chance for success?"

She pulls out of her parents' arms and turns to look at her son. He has grown up so much, she realizes, from the idealistic ten-year-old who first hopped on a bus to Boston, seeking her out with excited talk of fairy tales come to life and breaking curses. Sometimes, she wishes she could have that little boy back, before catastrophe on top of tragedy on top of even more catastrophe made him age far beyond his thirteen years.

Reluctantly, she nods, pulling Henry into her arms, resting her cheek against his head. He returns the hug, wrapping his arms around her waist. "Let's go home, then," Henry suggests.

"Yes," Mary Margaret quickly agrees, and if it is just a bit _too_ quick, no one is about to call her on it. "We can pick up Neal, Regina and Robin can pick up Roland and the new baby and we can all go home and decompress."

"I am certainly ready to go home," Belle adds, now standing with an arm wrapped around her husband's waist, the fingers of her free hand idly playing with the hair brushing the collar of his coat, and no one who glances at the pair as she speaks has any doubts about the Golds' plans after _they_ return home.

"We all are," Robin agrees with a smile directed at Regina, now standing in front of him as he rests his hands on her shoulders, squeezing gently. A man who usually prefers actions to words, he has not felt comfortable interjecting into the conversation before now, but if pressed, he would have had to have expressed his own reluctance at the idea of traipsing off to the Underworld. It wasn't that he had anything against Hook personally – of everyone present, his feelings were likely the most neutral as he had known the man the least and had not had any really negative interactions with him to speak of – but Roland and his new daughter should be his first priority. If not for his trust in Regina, having assumed that she knew what Emma had planned, he would have put his foot down and refused to participate in this trip.

"Good," Henry says, with a firmness which everyone tacitly agrees means this particular discussion is over for now. "We can take some time and everyone who _agrees_ can get together later and figure out what to do next."

What is left unsaid – and which he also plans to discuss with his mother later if she missed the implication in his words – is that there will be no more blackmail. Anyone who agrees to participate in the rescue mission will do so voluntarily.

Also, just in case, he will make sure that his mother is aware that he will not be used either to coerce his grandparents' cooperation. It has not escaped his notice that their assistance is always demanded rather than asked for, is almost never thanked and is never reciprocated – he had overheard his mom and Robin talking about Belle's harangue of everyone when they refused to help her rescue his grandfather, which had upset him and which he would have mentioned if his grandfather hadn't managed to escape before he could bring the subject up.

As they all begin to depart in pairs, Henry knows that things are far from settled, but perhaps for the first time since returning from Neverland, there is something of an understanding amongst his family and that is the best that can be hoped for right now. There is a still a catastrophe to deal with, but maybe they can all work together to resolve it, Henry hopes.

* * *

 **More author's notes:** I have a couple other story ideas which tie into this story that I may work on in the coming days if I have time, dealing with Belle and Henry finding out that Rumple is the Dark One again and Henry's phone call to Belle which brought her home during the episode, so although this particular story is a one-shot, it may turn into a little mini-series. But that will probably come after Christmas, as will the next part of "Healing Hearts".


End file.
